Australia

Your daily guide to the Games: Day one of Olympic action


It’s officially day one of the 32nd Olympiad, with wall-to-wall events to sate your sporting thirst — and plenty of Aussies in action to boot.

The Tokyo Olympics are broadcast in Australia on free-to-air TV on Channel Seven, as well as streaming platform 7Plus.

Here are the events to watch on Saturday, July 24.

Football: Matildas vs Sweden

The Matildas beat New Zealand 2-1 in their Olympics opener.(

Getty Images: Tim Clayton/Corbis

)

The Matildas are back in action at Saitama Stadium, when they take on Sweden at 6:30pm AEST.

Fresh from their 2-1 victory over New Zealand, the Matildas will now face a buoyant Sweden side fresh from its stunning 3-0 victory over the reigning world champion United States.

Australia, who had some mixed results against top teams coming into the Games, will need to be at their best to make it two wins from two matches in their tough group.

Cycling: Men’s road race

Belgium's Wout Van Aert cools off after the twentieth stage of the Tour de France
Belgium’s Wout Van Aert won three stages at the Tour de France and is a hot favourite to take gold in Tokyo.(

AP: Tim van Wichelen

)

Coming just days after a brutal Tour de France, 134 of the world’s best male cyclists will fly around the 234km-long, undulating course from 12:00pm AEST from Musashinonomori Park to Fuji International Speedway.

The Aussie contingent is strong, with Richie Porte, Luke Durbridge, Lucas Hamilton and Rohan Dennis all listed to start to race.

They’ll have tough competition from some of cycling’s leading lights though, with three-time Tour de France stage winner Wout van Aert leading a strong Belgian contingent who’ll be sure to feature prominently.

Although, with over 4,800 metres of climbing, you’d be a fool to rule out reigning Tour champion Tadaj Pogačar or even his Slovenian teammate, Primož Roglič — if he’s recovered from the crash that scuppered his Tour chances.

Hockey: Kookaburras vs Japan

Australia’s men’s hockey team will begin their quest for a first gold medal since 2004 when they take on the hosts at the Oi Hockey Stadium at 10:30am AEST.

Australia’s other pool A opponents are also in action on Saturday, with New Zealand taking on India and Argentina facing off against Spain.

Swimming: Heats

Woman in black cap rests at end of swimming pool
Emma McKeon headlines Australia’s first evening of heats in the pool.(

AAP: Dave Hunt

)

Australia has high hopes for the pool, and we’ll get our first look in the first session of the Games from 8:00pm AEST, which will feature the heats only, so no medals.

Our women’s team is super strong and should perform very strongly in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, so keep an eye open for that.

In the 100m fly we’ll have Emma McKeon and Bri Throssell to barrack for.

For the men, look out for Brendon Smith and Se Bom Lee (400m IM), Jack McLoughlin and Elijah Winnington (400m free) and Izaac Stubblety-Cook and Mat Wilson (100m breaststroke).

Fans of world records though should keep your eyes on Brit Adam Peaty, who qualified fastest for this event by over a second and has his own world record firmly in his sights.

Water polo: Australia vs Canada

Amy Ridge holds a multi-coloured ball in one hand above her head while in water
Australia’s women face a tough test early against Canada.(

Getty Images: Kelly Defina

)

The highly-touted women’s water polo team are also in action on Saturday, taking on Canada in their group A match at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre at 4:30pm AEST.

Australia’s other group A opponents, South Africa and Spain, are also in action, while the Netherlands will have to wait until Monday to get their Games underway.

The Stingers are a big medal hope at this Games and will want to get off to the best possible start.

What other Aussies are in action?

Archery: The Aussie mixed team will go for gold in the first of the archery events at the Yumenoshima Final Field. The quarter-finals start from 10:30am AEST.

Badminton: The badminton competition will start with some doubles action at the Mushashino Forest Sports Plaza, with Simon Wing Hnag Leung and Gronya Somerville taking on the Indonesian pairing of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti at 12:40pm AEST in the mixed doubles.

In the evening session, Somerville will again be in action, this time with female doubles partner Setyana Mapasa as they go up against Sohee Lee and Seungchan Shin from South Korea at 7:40pm AEST.

Chris McHugh holds both arms out in front of him and lets a ball hit them
Chris McHugh will partner Damien Schumann in Australia’s beach volleyball team. (

Getty Images: Sean M. Haffey

)

Beach Volleyball: Australia’s men’s pairing of Chris McHugh and Damien Schumann take on Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sorum from Norway at 10:00pm AEST on the sand at Shiokaze Park.

Boxing: The women’s featherweight competition, featuring Skye Nicolson, and welterweight competitions get underway from 12:00pm AEST. The men’s featherweight, welterweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight competitions also get underway, although there is no Aussie interest in those with the withdrawal of super heavyweight chance Justis Huni.

Equestrian: It’s Dressage Grand Prix Team and Individual qualifier day from 6:00pm at Equestrian Park. Australia now has eight competitors in the event, after Jamie Kermond was excluded.

Gymnastics: Victorian Tyson Bull will look to qualify for the finals at the Arike Gymnastics centre from 11:00am AEST.

Rowing: It’s heats in the rowing today too, with the single sculls, double sculls (featuring Amanda Bateman and Tara Rigney), lightweight double sculls, pairs (Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre in the women’s, Sam Hardy and Joshua Hicks in the men’s) and fours in action. The heats start at 9:30am AEST.

Softball: Australia will look to bounce back from their opening game defeat at the hands of Japan when they take on Canada at the Yokohama Baseball Stadium at 11:00am AEST.

Table tennis: Australia’s Jian Fang Lay (10:00am AEST) and Michelle Bromley (4:00pm AEST) are in action in the women’s singles, followed by Heming Hu and Melissa Tapper (12:25pm AEST) in the mixed doubles. Xin Yan (4:45pm AEST) and David Powell (10:00pm AEST) open their men’s singles accounts too.

Taekwondo: Khalil Sadwan will go for gold in the men’s 58kg competition, which runs all day at the Makuhari Messe Hall from the oddly specific time of 11:28am AEST.

Shooting: Eluse Collier and Katarina Rose Kowplos will have a chance of gold in the women’s 10m air rifle competition, while Daniel Repacholi will have his chance in the men’s 10m air pistol event. The heats start at 9:30am AEST.

Tennis: Sam Stosur is the first Aussie in action, she plays Elena Rybakina some time after 12:00pm on Court 2. Ash Barty and Storm Sanders will play their first women’s doubles match at a similar time on Court 5, while John Millman‘s singles tilt will also get underway on Court 9

Anything else happening?

3×3 basketball starts today at the Aomi Urban Sports Park. Japan will open proceedings against the Russian Olympic Committee athletes from 11:30am AEST.

The handball and volleyball competitions also start, but Australia has no team in either at the Games.

Australia has no entries in fencing this year, but if the action on the piste is what you’ve been waiting for, the women’s epee and men’s sabre competitions will start and finish today.

Australia has no Judo interest today, it’s the men’s 60kg and women’s 48kg competition that runs all day, with the medals decided from around 8:00pm.

Tokyo drifting

It has all got to start somewhere. At the Olympics, at least since Atlanta in 1996, it has started with a bang.

Both figuratively and literally.

With 339 gold medals set to be handed out over the next two and a bit weeks, many will forget the first.

But, like the previous seven Olympic Games, that medal will be handed to the winner of the women’s 10m air rifle. First introduced to the Games at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the 10m air rifle has acted as the starter’s … rifle for the Olympics.

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The US have won three golds in the event, more than any other nation. The event has a habit of producing upsets as well, with most athletes qualifying first for the final failing to win the gold at the end of the final.

An alternative medal tally

Speaking of the first day of events, what would the medal tally look like if competition stopped after the first day?

Most years, these events include the first tranche of swimming finals, the men’s cycling individual road race, the lightest divisions of weightlifting and combat sports, and some fencing.

Unsurprisingly, China sits at the top of the day one medal tally, driven by their shooting and swimming strength, but with eight golds via swimming and cycling, Australia is a strong early bolter.

Australia sits ahead of the US and low-key powerhouse Italy in the day one medal tally since Barcelona 1992.

Australia has led the tally twice after day one of competition in recent Games — at Sydney 2000 and in Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Do not expect a repeat, though, because with swimming off the podium until day two in Tokyo, the Australians may struggle to match this past early running.



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